Stocks fall on more worries over Europe

Stocks closed lower on Wall Street Wednesday as investors continue to worry about the region's long-running debt crisis. Bad news out of Europe and good news from the US have tossed stocks up and down over the past week.

ByMatthew Craft, AP Business WriterMarch 27, 2013

Stock trader Anthony Riccio, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks fell Wednesday as investors continue to worry over the European debt crisis.

Renewed worries about the region's long-running debt crisis weighed on the Dow Jones industrial average on Wednesday, and held the Standard & Poor's 500 index back from reaching an all-time high.

Investors are watching to see if Cyprus can shore up its banking system. They are also keeping an eye on Italy, where political parties are struggling to form a new government in the eurozone's third-largest economy.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 0.92 to 1,562.85, less than three points short of its all-time high set in October 2007.

Bad news out of Europe and good news from the U.S. have tossed the stock market around over the past week.

"There are still plenty of worries about (Europe's) banking system," said J.J. Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade. "But the U.S. really is on a nice little roll."

As stocks slumped early Wednesday, Kinahan said he thought the S&P 500 would recover its losses and could make another run at its record high on Thursday.

Cyprus is working out how to reopen its banks on Thursday after a nearly two-week shutdown. An international bailout calls for money from large depositors to help pay for the rescue of its banking system.

In Italy, a center-left party failed in its attempt to form a new government. The political stalemate has raised fears that the country will be unable to manage its deep debts, undermining confidence in the euro.

Those worries hit Europe's bond markets especially hard. Borrowing rates for Italy and Spain shot higher, a sign of weaker confidence in their financial health. Rates for Germany and France, two of Europe's more stable countries, sank as traders shifted money into their bonds.

In other trading, the Nasdaq composite inched up 4.04 points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,256.52.

Four of the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 index edged higher. Utilities and health care, which investors tend to buy when they want to play it safe, made the biggest gains.

Kim Forrest, a senior equity analyst at Fort Pitt Capital, said it appears that many investors are treating certain stocks as if they were bonds.

"There's a recognition that bonds are overpriced, so people are moving into healthcare and utilities that pay a nice dividend," she said. "Those are pretty boring investments, and by that I mean their prices don't move a lot."

News about Italy also helped drive traders into the safety of U.S. government bonds, pushing benchmark yields to their lowest level this month. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped to 1.84 percent, a steep fall from 1.91 percent late Tuesday.

The S&P 500 closed within three points of its record high of 1,565.15, helped by rising U.S. home prices and orders for manufactured goods. The stock index hit that peak on Oct. 9, 2007, before the Great Recession and a financial crisis roiled financial markets.

— Science Applications International Corp. surged 5 percent after the security and communications technology provider reported a fourth-quarter profit that was better than analysts were expecting. SAIC also announced a special dividend of $1 per share, and itsstock gained 50 cents to $13.32.